Fables of reconstruction
by Miccasa
Summary: The night was dark but there were people who could not close their eyes and go to sleep. There were people who had to fight shadows even in the dark. Fate had honoured Kaito with the fact that he had to be one of them. But there was one sweet voice of the night he couldn t get out of his head, it kept telling him: If it is a game, we are lost. If it isn t, we are lost all the more.
1. Prolog

**Prologue**

The moon light bathed the big, pompous mansion in a ghostly grey. He stood there, heavily breathing, meters away from the front portal. It had been difficult to get here. The man had felt invisible eyes on his back ever since he got close to the mansion, watching closely every step of him.

Yet he did not care.

He had invested months of search to find this place. Nothing would stop him, now that he was here. Determined he went forward, took the marble stairs and reached out for the giant door knocker. Ignoring the slight trembling of his hand he knocked. Once. Twice. A third time. Each knock more demanding.

Hell, he wanted to get it over with.

The door opened swiftly, almost inaudibly before he could raise his hand again. A tall man dressed like a butler stared at him. He stared back, he had missed what the other man had just asked.

The butler spoke again, stoically: "What can I do for you?" Though there were no traces of mockery in his voice, the other man felt like the butler sneered at him. He straightened up.

"I would like to speak the master of this house", he spoke fast to cover up his growing nervousness.

The servant nodded and pointed to follow him. He was a little bit confused by the fact that the man who had opened the door did not seem surprised or had questioned him any further. He did not know that the domestics of this house were already informed about his arrival an hour ago. That the invisible eyes could have something to do with it did not occur to him. He was focusing too hard on the reason why he was here, his thoughts could not concentrate on anything else.

He hardly noticed the luxury surrounding him or how many rooms they had crossed until the butler stopped in front a giant white door with golden engravings.

The butler knocked, waited five seconds and entered. The room was big, gold framed mirrors on each of the walls reflected the lights of the lamps in a bizarre way. There was no furniture in the windowless room except for a wooden chair which resembled a throne and a carpet which led from the door to the chair.

Everything in the room seemed to scream: "_Kneel down!__"_

The man fought strongly with himself to suppress the urge to do so. A movement caught his eye. In the middle of the room sat the most handsome man he had ever seen. So beautiful that painters, photographers or sculptors would have given anything to have this man pose as a model for them.

"_So that's what a pureblood vampire looks like."_ He swallowed and wavered for a moment until his glance fell on his right hand palm full of badly healed scars.

_Right! No distractions!_

He was here to get revenge for them.

_He had to do it!_

Otherwise he would not be able to teach those hunters ,who so proudly called themselves human protectors, a lesson. "_Hah, they were nothing but plain murderers. Slaughtering little children as if it were nothing! Pretending to be on the humans side."_

A slight cough interrupted his thoughts.

Suddenly remembering that he was not alone, he looked up and his gaze met with one of the man sitting on the chair. A thought flashed through his mind:minutes must have passed since the butler had announced him_._ Hastily he stepped in front of the seemingly amused vampire lord.

"I," he started and changed his mind. "Master, I wish to become a vampire." he said, this time with no hesitation in his voice. He still fought the desire to bend his knees. _Yes, he wanted that vampires help but he did not want to crawl for him._ He wanted to keep what little pride was left inside of him.

"Hm is that so," the pureblood continued to stare at him through his half closed eyelids. "And why do you want to become one? "

"I must become more powerful, that's it." the man answered through gritted teeth. There was no need to tell him more the man thought.

"Hm, power is something marvellous", agreed the vampire in a bored tone, shifting his legs. "So you come here without telling me your name, without showing any respect, and yet despite all that you wish me to help you? Do you even know the conditions, human?"

"Conditions? I´m sorry...", the man was taken aback.

"Yusei tell him." interrupted the pureblood his stuttering.

The butler who stood behind his master now started smoothly: "If the master agrees to turn you, there is no guarantee you survive. You will not be allowed to stay here and don´t expect any further help from him. You will receive 5 blood drops," here the servant had to pause to conceal his utter rage about the new rules, "from my master. This will not prevent you from falling to a level E but maybe impede it for a bit. You must declare that you are doing this of your own will and no one is forcing you." the servant stopped.

"_Low humans who could demand blood from a vampire lord even if they wanted to be changed by choice! What had the world turned into! His grandfather who had also been a servant in this household would have cringed at this new insulting rule!"_

But Yusei did not voice his disgust to that mortal man and ended instead with: "Any further questions?" Before he could obtain an answer the door burst open and a young human girl ran into the room and fell on her knees in front of the chair.

The three men looked at her, one mildly surprised the other one disgusted and the third indifferent.

"My my and who are you?", the pureblood sat up straight, obviously more interested than before.

The girl looked up and said in an unbelievable fast talking speed: "I am Lane Carter. You and my father had a business meeting and coincidentally I was there too. The very first moment I laid my eyes on you, I fell in love with you. There can be no other man for me and I swore by my soul that I will find you. But when my father found out...", she stopped there.

"So you ran away from home? You naughty little girl." Delighted the vampire watched her turning red like a tomato. Lane Carter looked at him beseechingly but did not reply.

"Did your father tell you what I really am?" he bent down and took her face in his hands. "Daddy surely has, hasn´t he? Aren´t you scared?" The vampire´s face was centimetres away from hers.

"I just follow my heart", the girl said with a choked voice.

"Oh isn't that sweet!" the pureblood smiled a dangerous smile.

"Fine then" he said. "Yusei, bring this little lady to the blue salon. I want to deepen our acquaintance." the lord ordered loud then murmured: "My fiancé does not like it when I turn females here so make something up."

The butler nodded and disappeared with the girl who did not seem to comprehend what was happening to her in tow.

"Now back to you", said human man, who had watched the scenario with dismay, looked startled. He cursed that girl's stupidity. Did she think this vampire was a kind prince charming? Did she know what she had gotten involved in? He hardly listened to what the vampire lord was telling him.

"You are lucky today, I will grant your wish_."_ the pureblood continued. He was ignoring the human's angry glares and suppressed a chuckle.

The pureblood categorized humans in three different types: the boring ones, no further description needed, the ignorant ones, oblivious to the power and superiority of purebloods, and his most beloved third category the charming, entertaining humans. Charming in their worshipping joy, entertaining, in their unspeakable anger and grief. How he loved those kind of people, full of thick, tasty emotions. How they refreshed his own thin and shallow soul, drained from living so many years. If he sucked their blood it was almost as if he was able to feel such emotions himself again.

Ah his noble mother had taught him to be not greedy so he would not play with both, the man and the girl. The level A was glad, he had found a much more entertaining toy than this wreck of a man but he would be useful anyway. If he sucked this man's blood he would be calmer once he saw the girl. The pureblood waved his hand at him to tell him to come nearer.

"_Yes this is it, now or never", _the human thought. He could not bother about some unknown woman or about the arrogance of that bloodsucker. He had a plan he had to follow. He went to the pureblood and exposed his neck to him.

He did not scream when the long, sharp teeth of the vampire broke his skin and pure poison flowed into the wound.

He did not scream when he his body reacted - no, revolted - and every cell broke apart and was rebuilt.

But he could not hold himself back from screaming when the other man mercilessly peeked in his heart and enjoyed the terrible bloody memories which pained him so much.

Soon.

Very soon he would pay back that person who had caused these memories.

Those were his last thoughts before everything went black.


	2. one

Maria Kurenai sighed and stepped under the protecting shadow of a tree. It was now nearly midday and although she had an umbrella with her the sun was causing her pain.

The only reason she strolled around the woods of Cross Academy at this ungodly hour, was that she could not fall asleep because of her constant coughing.

She had decided to take a walk, not only because she hoped it would make it better, but also because the girl she shared her room with had threatened to throw her out.

"_Jeez, being a sick vampire is a sick joke of nature."_ It had happened more than once that other vampires, who did not know her well, thought Maria was just playing sick, which isolated her even more.

Tomorrow Maria had planned to speak with the headmaster if she could possibly get a single room. When she suggested her idea to her roommate Saya in the first place, she had supported her idea enthusiastically.

Maybe a little too enthusiastically for Maria´s taste. Could Saya not hide her joy a little bit better? But she was willing to go with her to the headmaster and for that she was grateful.

Truth to be said Maria was really nervous about the upcoming talk.

Normally she would have spoken with Yuki Kuran about that matter, but the pureblood was not here at the moment, because she was still on her way to convince the nobles of her plans.

Maria did not feel comfortable with the thought of the future talk because her admission interview had not gone very well.

A few days before:

Three hunters waited for in the the headmasters office where the interview whould take place. Maria knew Yagari and the chairman but did not know who the third was.

Maybe it was, because she was the last and late, maybe it was a coincidence or it was because of the Shizuka Hio incident that so many of the hunters were here.

"_Are you hosting any purebloods today?"_ was one of Yagari's first questions.

Before she could answer the, in her opinion rude, question, the unknown hunter, a young one, said: "_Well she wont tell us that now, I guess. Until the catastrophe descends upon us. Isn't that true, vampire girl?"_ He stared mockingly into her eyes.

"_Who is that guy anyway and why is he here?"_ Maria fumed.

She could partly understand Yagari-sensei, after all what had happened with her inadvertent help at the school. But the debt was paid and which vampire could really resist a demanding pureblood?

"_Stop"_, Maria thought.

She would not play the victim. It had been her decision to help Shizuka-sama, partly because of Ichiru, although she had not known a lot of the woman's original plans, just some parts of it. If she had known everything, she probably wouldn't have favoured them though she was grateful that Shizuka´s blood had made her life more bearable. That was something she could not deny.

"_No I don't"_, was Maria's answer a little less firm than she wanted to.

"_So why do you want to become a member of the night class this time?",_ asked Yagari further.

_Well, what should she tell them? Because she really wanted to make real friends, people of her age? Not staying at home with just her parents and some servants?_ She did not want to sound that pathetic. _Because she was looking for Ichiru´s whereabouts? _

All things she did not want to admit in front of two cynical hunters and the friendly but slightly weird headmaster. Luckily she was prepared for that kind of question. So she told them how important the night class, that project of peace, was for her and what a great chance to show true coexistence to humans and vampires alike.

At the end of her little speech the brown haired man snorted and said._"Wow, I hear this kind of stuff a lot these days. But nevertheless I am so touched by it every time. I just wonder if there is any vampire who really means it?"_, he mumbled the last sentence.

Maria looked dumbfounded at the guy in front of her. _Seriously, what was his problem? Was he testing how far he could go with his provoking? And why did that especially annoying hunter look so handsome? Was there a stupid rule which said the more annoying a hunter was, the hotter he had to be? And why the hell was she bothered with his looks? _

While she was thinking about these important matters the chairman had hushed the person who was apparently called Kaito.

"_Thanks for now Maria-san and welcome again to Cross academy. Do you have any questions? No? Then you can go now, I bet you still know the place.",_ the chairman smiled cheerfully at her.

Yagari seemed a little pissed that the headmaster had already declared the admission interview to be finished. But Maria took her chance, bowed and left quickly before one of the hunters could bring up another sensitive thing.

She had the feeling that this Kaito guy would not run out of cynical/sardonic comments that easily. For today she had heard enough of them. Kaito's eyes followed her as she left the room.

Maria took a deep breath, once she was out of the room. That had been more exhausting than she thought it would be. She closed her eyes and leant against the wall.

_Were they so harsh with any vampire who wanted to attend the night class? _On the other hand the actual political situation was pretty controversial. Ever since the head of the Kuran´s had killed the vampire senate, the vampire society was a mess. What should had been a new chance for the society turned into bloody chaos.

Level Es who were under the control of the senate went wild, so many, that the hunters could not keep up killing them. Level Ds and Cs thought they had a carte blanche to kidnap human children and to sell their blood. The human trafficking had nearly doubled.

Kaname Kuran fought against these problems with fast and hard measures, but he did not have many allies. There was hardly a noble family which had not lost a member when the whole senate was killed.

Although no one tried to oppose the newly declared leader openly, some families were very reserved with their help. Not only were they mourning for relatives, some nobles suffered from a big power loss too. It was hard to tell which loss was more painful.

After a year, right when the situation seemed to calm down a bit Kaname Kuran suddenly went on a pureblood killing spree, throwing the vampire society back into chaos again. The self declared vampire king turned up unexpected here and there, killed, and then disappeared into nothing again. It was impossible to catch him, impossible to predict his next moves.

When his younger sister, Yuki Kuran, appeared and presented her idea of night class reloaded, most of the nobles were reluctant at first. After some consideration some of them saw that as a chance to get back some political power and with these ulterior motives they sent their children to the night class. Saya and her brother Masahiro were part of them.

Yuki Kuran was a very young pureblood, with no talent for manipulation or desire to play scheming games. Many thought to influence her actions for their own personal gain and if her unpredictable brother were to come back, they could claim to have supported his sister.

Maria thought that the hunter association must be aware of that. Of course, there _were _vampires with no such motives who really could not stand what was happening to humans and truly believed in coexistence, but not everyone thought so and one would do well to keep that in mind.

Steps on the floor pulled Maria out of her thoughts and she hurried down the stairs, out into the night towards the moon dormitory.

Present time:

Kaito yawned and blinked at the sunlight. He only had two classes today and enjoyed the fact that they were already over. It was not like he hated his job as a teacher but he had worked so much lately, he felt he deserved a free afternoon.

The last class was rather exhausting. They should have discussed one aspect of teleological ethics, hedonism, today, but his pupils had disappointed him. He had hoped Zero would have saved the dignity of the class but he had taken a nap. Kaito had not taken that too personally and woke him with a not too gentle hit on his head.

"_I bet he will complain about that non stop tonight at watch"_ the young teacher murmured to himself knowing that this was not true. Zero would perform his duties conscientious, emotionless as always.

It was not easy being a teacher, a hunter and a babysitter for a broken friend who did not want to admit his problems. "_No_," Kaito crossed out the word babysitter in his mind, instead choosing to think of it as _"friendly, monitoring guidance"_.

As he promised Toga Yagari, he would be watching Zero when he called him back from his job in... No better not think of his last job again. Kaito dropped that unpleasant thought and looked up. "_Hey, wait, is that the vampire girl I nearly reduced to tears standing under the trees? What's her name again?" Or a better question might have been: What the heck was she doing there at this hour? _

A sunbeam fell through the leaves on her. Her hair shimmered and shone like pearls, her skin looked like alabaster.

She was taking a walk under the trees but walking would not describe her movements correctly. It was more of an graceful dance over the moss covered ground. It was dazzling to watch.

Kaito inhaled the fresh air and closed his eyes._"Focus!",_ said a demanding voice in his head. The very first thing kids of the vampire hunters learnt before they even saw their first weapon or took their first training, sometimes even before they took their first steps, was the fact, that someone being beautiful did not mean that someone was good person.

Parents told their children goodnight stories of monsters who hid their true ugliness behind a breathtaking façade. They tried to fight the natural instinct of their kids which told them to trust people with handsome features. They told them of pretty fairies that turned into flesh-eating witches and prince charmings that transformed into cruel, wicked murderers.

Women with skin white as snow and lips red as blood were actually pale because they never saw the sun and their lips were red because of the fresh blood of their human meal. The hero always had to remain calm and had to relay on his or her instincts and brains to survive and succeed the villains.

It was essential for a hunter not to get lured by extreme beauty. Vampires used theirs like spiders used their nets to capture their preys.

"_Don't forget your lessons and what you were taught about the appearance of beauty - Get that back into your head",_ the voice in Kaito´s head hissed. Kaito wondered why he had to recall something so simple right now, quickened his pace and walked over to her.

"_What are you doing her in the middle of the day? Should you not be in your dormitory?!"_ he barked at her as soon as she was within earshot.

When the hunter arrived where she stood, the girl tried to explain her situation. Kaito frowned at her. _A sick vampire, was that possible?_

Maria backed her arguments with a pretty convincing coughing attack. _"Okay, okay I will speak with the headmaster about that matter.",_ Kaito gave in. _"But you must go back now, I can´t let you wander around like that.",_ he demanded.

Maria removed herself from the place quickly. Thoughtfully he watched her leaving, noticing how she still seemed to glide over the ground.

Something irked and irritated him about this vampire girl. He could not put a finger on what it was exactly. All he knew was that he needed a day off, badly; some distraction so he could get a clear head again. Every hunter had his or her own ways to deal with the exhausting job they had. For Yagari it was his cigarettes, the headmaster cooked and Zero... Well, Zero compensated stress with even more work.

Kaito´s addiction was more joyful. He just needed a simple blow job. Currently that task was taken care of by Kayumi. A girl who worked as a kind of secretary in the hunter association. A sweet girl, a bit small and she would have escaped any notice, had it not been for her mesmerizing green eyes and nice smile. Kaito would not have minded if they slept together, but that would cost more.

No, Kayumi did not want money. But before she would sleep with him, he would have to make an announcement that they were seeing each officially. She called it: "Dating with the aspect of a future". And the last thing Kaito wanted right now was a relationship. Sex? Yes please! Emotional commitment? No thanks! If it were up to him things would stay as they were forever.

Too bad for him that Amor has no ears.


	3. two

_He turned around and they looked at each other. He took one strand of her hair in his hands and let it slip through his fingers. The woman was captivated, her mouth was partly open and her cheeks were glowing. His hand stroked over her neck to her face and she tilted her head sideways, nestling against his touch. "You have bewitched me", he said with a husky voice. Slowly, very slowly, he bent down and took possession of her lips. She whimpered softly, melting against him, her breasts pressing against him, her lips parting fully now to give him access. He eagerly claimed her mouth in a no-holds-barred kiss, penetrating deep, taking her tongue with his, meeting the strokes of her tongue with his own. While he explored her depths, his hands slid feverishly over her slender body. (…)_

"Ah", Maria sighed blissfully and put her beloved novel back on her night table. These were her favourite lines in that book. She loved to read them again and again. Always with the same flustered, but also satisfied feeling. It was the protagonist's first kiss, many dangers laid ahead of the couple. But this kiss sealed their fate. Maria could not suppress another sigh. She should know better but she had a thing for those kind of stories.

It was nearly ten o'clock in the morning and Maria was still up. Sleep just would not come for her. She sat upright and looked around her new room. There were no big differences about this one and her first, except that her new room was smaller.

The hunter had kept his word, after two nights she had moved in with Saya´s help . Moving her stuff had been quick, she did not own that much. The heaviest piece had been her guilty pleasure, a collection of trashy novels. She had brought those books nearly surreptitiously to her new place. Although she loved reading them, she did not want to be caught having them.

All the stories followed the same pattern: A modest, young girl with soulful eyes and tempting lips (non of these attributes were mandatory) meets an often older, but rich, man. She has nothing to give but her unwavering love. After pages of oaths of love, misunderstandings and unbelievable intrigues, the couple finally ends up together. It always ends with a big wedding and a happily ever after.

When Maria had still lived with her parents, she had been really addicted to these kind of books. Everyday she had read one or two of them and had dreamed about her prince in shining armour afterwards. There was nothing else to do at home. Maria didn't have any siblings, since her parents did not want to take the risk of getting another sick child. Their daughter's condition had been a popular topic among vampires when Maria had been born.

Some malicious tongues had asked if she really was her fathers child or if she had a human as father. The Kurenais had moved to a remote house in the woods to escape the mean gossip and hardly showed themselves in vampire society from that point on.

Maria grew up as a lonely child surrounded by doctors and servants only. In her young days the doctors attempted to cure her illness/weakness with weird experiments which all failed. The only doctor who had the courage to tell her father, who had already guessed that only the blood of a level A could help her, got fired.

There were rumours about a high-born relative that the domestics gossiped about, but as soon as the master of the house heard about the chitchat, he cut it off. By that time there were still a lot of physicians at the Kurenais household. Probably because they got a big pay check or because they wanted to be the first doctor to cure a sick vampire.

Maria had been a patient child and patient, but at the age of thirteen she had a major screaming tantrum and fired all of the medical staff. Her parents took silently note of that and did not bother their daughter again with doctors.

Finally freed, Maria took as much advantage of her free time as her health let her. She spent her days in her fathers library undisturbed by the rest of the world. She also discovered her great talent: controlling animals.

Hour after hour she spent exploring the woods and and towns through the eyes of her animal friends. Sometimes she envied her birds, how effortlessly they moved through the sky while she was chained to her own sickly body, unable to move as she wanted to.

From time to time she ignored her aching body and fiercely fought against the terrible feebleness and tried to explore her surroundings in person. She never made it far, one day she fainted and was found hours later by a servant. The whole household had nearly gone crazy worrying for her, and her father forbade her vigorously to set a foot out alone ever again. Maria promised him and kept her word but she continued to use her birds.

Years passed and Maria's condition did not change but a strong restlessness spread in her like a virus. She got impatient with her maid, criticising her harshly, no matter what the servant did.

Afterwards she regretted her harshness called her back in and apologised. Sometimes she gave her maid a piece of her silver jewellery, which was immediately taken away from the maid by Maria's mother.

Maria lost her appetite, the finest dishes and the thickest donated blood would not appeal to her. Her parents recognized with horror that their already thin daughter became even thinner, nearly haggard. No pleading or persuasion changed Maria's mind, only her father's threats that he would hire a bunch of doctors again and hand her over to them, made Maria eat normally again.

Her father, though glad that she was eating again, did not want to overuse that special threat too much, because he did not really want to punish her, but he had no idea how he could handle his only child otherwise. Maria also rejected her parents suggestions to go on small excursions, but of course with accompaniment, with the words that she was neither a dog nor a toddler any more. If she were to go on an excursion, she would want to make it on her own, and of course the Kurenais did not give in to such a wish.

Sometimes Maria was ashamed of her behaviour, she loved her parents and was grateful for everything they did for her. Her rebellion was not directed against them, she rebelled against her own weak body which imprisoned her overly lively spirit.

Deep down she feared that she would become a tyrannical, depending, dissatisfied monster which hated life itself. She would suffocate in her boring life where nothing every changed. She was tired of watching and spying on other people's lives, she wanted some action of her own.

What Maria did not know was that the person who would inevitably bring her change was on his/her way to her.

It was a mild spring day, flora and fauna were slowly awaking from their long beauty sleep. Maria's condition was quite good compared to her condition in the winter months. She had settled herself in a chair in her room, in front of the window.

She loved the feeling of fresh air on her skin and stared dreamily at the eggshell-coloured moon. The wind played softly with her long hair and not far away an owl tu-whit tu-whooed. Maria listened intently to the sound the bird was making. _Ah, yes this was one of her pets._

The girl closed her eyes and concentrated: She could easily invade the birds small body and make it obeying her will. Maria hesitated for a moment, she could not decide if she should let the owl fly to the north to visit a human village or east to spy a little on a vampire soiree.

A sudden movement caught her attention. There was someone in the woods. Via the eyes of the animal, Maria could recognise a silver haired human boy making his way through the undergrowth. Excitement flushed over her.

_A visitor?! _That had never happened before. _What could he want or was he simply lost?_ The spirit of adventure overwhelmed her. Her maid, who usually accompanied her had brought her breakfast, and left an hour ago to attend the yearly spring cleaning.

She was all alone. This was her chance. Maria reached for the glass of blood next to her and emptied in one gulp. Without a second thought to the promise she had given her parents about not going anywhere alone she jumped out of the window and landed gracefully on the grass.

There she stood for a moment, inhaling the sweet fresh air, then moved forward towards the woods. She demanded a lot from her body but she did not loose control over the bird nor did she loose sight of the boy. He was not far away any more, she could sense his presence.

Suddenly a wave of nausea washed over her, she swayed a little and tried to hold onto a tree. She grasped at nothing, wavered and fell. Before she hit the ground two arms captured her. Maria looked up, aghast; it was him, the boy who had intruded their woods.

Her thoughts raced, exactly 11 trashy novels came into her mind where the heroine met her hero like that. Eleven stories, she knew at once, that ended in happily ever after. That had to be her moment, she closed her eyes and tried to feel the magic and the butterflies.

Nothing. Well, maybe these insects needed time to hatch.

"Can you stand on your own?"the boy asked . _Oh, he spoke to her, he spoke to her!_

Maria opened her eyes again, mustered all her strength to save the last bit of her dignity. She wanted to inquire his wishes imperiously and welcome him as the daughter of this estate, but her attempt to do so failed. Fighting down the urge to puke she remained silent in his arms. "Very well, I will carry you then", he said. "By the way my name is Ichiru".

Maria nearly fainted, the way he introduced himself, so informal, and on top of that he carried here bridal style. _Bridal style! _At least she was able to show him the way to her home.

"See I told you there were no need to worry, Ichiru-kun is such a reliable boy", awoman spoke with a soft voice as Ichiru and Maria entered the front hall. Maria´s eyes widened and her vampire instincts tingled when she recognized the owner of that voice: That was Shizuka Hio, the pureblood princess of the Hio clan.

Maria might have lived cut off from the outer world, but even she knew who that was. _Why was she here? And wait, Ichiru belonged to her? _Her mother hurried forwards to help her and Ichiru let her down.

But Maria´s gaze was fixed on the pureblood in front of her, how beautiful she was! Then her eyes fell on her father who stood right next to Shizuka Hio. He seemed oddly uncomfortable and stiff.

"Shizuka-sama may I introduce you to my only daughter Maria_, _her father started, "and Maria, this is, as you probably know, the Kuruizaki-hime Shizuka sama who honours us with her presence. She will stay here as our guest for the time being."he said. "Show her the guest rooms" he told one servant who hurried along.

"I'm glad to meet you," the pureblood smiled at Maria, "lets have tea together all right?", then she and Ichiru followed the servant. Maria did not know what to answer so she just bowed and thanked the leaving woman. As she lifted her head, she noticed the worried look on her parents face. At first she thought they were angry with her because of her little adventure but her honest apology did not change her parents expression.

"Just be more careful from now on.", was all her father had to say to her before he left. Maria had expected more ruckus about her running away and slightly wondered what effect the pureblood princess had on her parents.

Although it was not her home, Shizuka Hio acted as if it was. She wrapped requests up as gentle breathed questions though she did not need to hide the fact that her word was law. It was a natural gift that she possessed as pureblood, every being who had vampire blood in their veins would or could not oppose her directly.

There were vampires who cursed the few purebloods, there were some who worshipped them but one thing made them equal: their fear of their unlimited power. Nevertheless, Shizuka Hio acted modest and humble, treating all of the Kurenai's domestics nicely, and was (very) respectful to the family. She perfectly full filled the role as guest and, it sometimes seemed, as host as well.

Her flawless behaviour did not soothe Maria's father mistrust. He thought frantically about how he could get rid of this unloved, dangerous relative. It was common knowledge to give purebloods a wide berth if you wanted some peace as a vampire.

Adding to the circumstance of being a Level A, Shizuka Hio was hunted by the vampire senate and hunters likewise because of her murder of a hunter couple, the Kiryus; not the most appreciated guest you could wish for.

"_Oh how he hated this branch of the family", _Maria's father thought. All he could do was wait and hope his precious daughter would take no harm.

How different Maria felt! She could not remember when she had ever been happier. She admired Shizuka: the way she dressed, the way she spoke, the way she poured out the tea. Maria tried to copy her in every way and the woman seemed to have taken a liking to her as well.

They spent many hours together and talked. Most of the time Maria talked, things she did not realise were on her mind. Pleasures, worries, things unrelated to the world's serious issues.

Sometimes Ichiru was present and then Maria could not hold back and glanced at him every five minutes. The boy filled her dreams at day and her thoughts at night. But Ichiru had blocked all attempts from Maria to start a real conversation with him. He was polite and made a joke now and again, but did not answer personal questions.

She was alone with him on one occasion and in the uncomfortable silence a dragging conversation developed. They came to talk about Shizuka and suddenly the young man became livelier. "She helped me a lot", Ichiru stared seriously at Maria. "I always was a weak child and often ill, my brother worried himself sick because of my health. But then Shizuka-sama came into my life and everything changed, he paused. Maybe," he made another pause, "maybe she will help you too?"

Their talk was suddenly interrupted by Maria's maid who wanted to know their wishes for supper. After she had left Maria still did not know what to say and asked instead about Ichiru´s brother whose name was apparently Zero.

During the supper Maria was oddly silent and avoided her parents questioning looks and even Shizuka's friendly queries. That went on for some days when Shizuka herself approached that topic.

"I spoke with Ichiru the other night and he told me about your conversation about giving my blood to him. Maria do not be shy, look at me", Shizuka reached out and lifted up Maria's chin.

"I would have never asked you to...", Maria began to stutter.

The older woman smiled a warm smile. "I know but you do not need to ask me I will give it to you. I'm grateful what you and your family did for me and I'm happy to help you to get a better life." with those words Shizuka cut her wrist and offered it Maria.

The girl licked and gulped down the lifeblood, tears shimmering in her eyes, muttering endless words of thanks. The pureblood stroked Maria's hair with a satisfied look.

Four days later Shizuka, Ichiru and Maria left the Kurenai mansion for a holiday lodge, which belonged to the family, in the mountains. Maria's father was not present when they departed but sent his best wishes through his wife.

Her mother could not hold back her tears which she shed partly because of her daughter leaving, partly of joy because she thought Maria would have never been able to travel and partly of fear of what price Maria probably would have to pay for Shizuka's generous gift.

There was someone else with reddened eyes, Maria's maid had cried the whole day when she had been told that she would not come with them. All these years she had been with Maria, it felt as if she lost her best friend as far as a servant could allow to consider their master as such.

"Maria-sama the maid said, I'm so happy, I'm so happy that..." The woman never got to finish her sentence and to express what actually made her so happy. The words were stuck in her throat refusing to leave her mouth.

Maria would have been moved if she had paid attention but the girl was full of emotion herself that she could not recognize others'.

Impatient and nervous at the same time, she awaited their departure, as a bird may feel leaving its nest for the first time. Later, much later she would remember that goodbye scene and her hasty farewell to her first and only friend, her maid, Ingrid Cirznik.

Present time:

Thinking about the past had made Maria tired. She turned in her bed and closed her eyes. Tomorrow she would go and find Zero and ask him what had happened to Ichiru. With that thought in mind she fell asleep.

Kaito did not go often to the cemetery but he could find the way to his brothers grave in his sleep. Peace laid over this place and Kaito's tightened muscles began to relax. He stood there in front of the grave for several minutes and then turned around to leave.

He never stayed long, he did not see any sense in that. Kaito was near the exit when he noticed a figure standing by the Kiryu's final resting place. His step began to hold, curiously he looked over there. The one who was paying a visit to the Kiryu´s was definitely not Zero. Who was it?


End file.
